Paul Christie

Paul Christie (March 1952—) is a municipal politician and administrator in Ontario, Canada. He served as a Toronto and Metro Councillor for the Metro ward of East Toronto from 1985-1997 and as supervisor of the Toronto District School Board for the 2002-2003 and 2003-2004 school years.

Christie was born in Toronto, Ontario, and educated at Waterloo Lutheran University and the University of Toronto. He worked as a ministerial assistant at the Ontario Secretariat for Social Development under the Bill Davis government. He ran for the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in the 1981 provincial election as a Progressive Conservative candidate in Beaches — Woodbine, and lost to New Democrat Marion Bryden by 324 votes. Christie campaigned against Bryden again in the 1985 election, and lost by an increased margin.

In November 1985, Christie was elected to the Toronto City Council as an alderman for Ward 9, in a section of Toronto known as the Beaches. He served as chair of the City Services Committee, the Neighbourhoods Committee, and the Daycare Grants Committee. In 1988, he was elected to the Metropolitan Toronto Council. He served as chair of the Works Committee, and was a member of the Greater Toronto Area Solid Waste Interim Steering Committee.

Christie was returned to the Metro Council without opposition in 1991 and handily re-elected in 1994. From 1991, he served as a Toronto Transit Commissioner, becoming its chair in 1994. He served as a Board Member of Toronto East General Hospital, The Riverdale Hospital, O'Keefe/Hummingbird Centre for the Performing Arts, the Toronto Zoo and a variety of community agencies.

Christie sought election to the newly amalgamated City of Toronto Council in November 1997, and was narrowly defeated by Tom Jakobek and Sandra Bussin in two-member ward. He then became the executive director of the Ontario Charity Gaming Operators' Association, and operated an independent government consulting business.

In 2002, Paul Christie was appointed by the Progressive Conservative government of Ernie Eves to serve as supervisor of the Toronto District School Board, with authority for all financial and administrative functions of the Board. This allowed Christie to supersede the authority of elected school trustees. The provincial government argued that the appointment was necessary, as the TDSB had not submitted a budget to the Ontario Minister of Education as legally required. Representatives of the TDSB claimed that they could not find the necessary operating expenses for the year, given provincial regulations which prohibited deficit spending. TDSB chair Donna Cansfield was perceived to be supportive of Christie's initiatives, so trustee Shelley Carroll waged a campaign to replace Cansfield. Unable to generate majority support, Carroll then served with Cansfield as TDSB co-chair.

Christie balanced the TDSB's budget through a dramatic spending reduction of $90 million. Under his watch, the TDSB eliminated many secretarial positions, phased out school-community advisors, reduced the number of vice-principals, cut outdoor education and adult education, and re-evaluated the position of social workers in the system. Christie's staff reports were not made public, and some critics argued that there were no adequate checks or balances on his authority. [Trish Worron, "Education democracy an illusion", "Toronto Star", 12 July 2003, F6.]

His tenure as supervisor ended with the election of Dalton McGuinty's Liberal Party in the 2003 provincial election. The McGuinty government retained most of Christie's initiatives including the staff reductions.

Mr. Christie subsequently returned to his business, M.L. Christie Consulting Ltd., specializing in municipal and provincial government relations. He also serves as a Director of Grey Island Systems International Inc., a GPS services company (TSX V: GIS).

Footnotes